Cornwall or Cotswolds?

There is no contest here. The whole Cornish coast is beach country, from the surf at Fistral and Watergate Bay to the turquoise coves of Porthcurno and Kynance, though the Atlantic is cool enough that many people swim in a wetsuit.

The Cotswolds have no seaside in any useful sense. The Severn Estuary below the escarpment is mudflats and strong tides, and the closest thing to a beach day is the lake shore at the Cotswold Water Park near Cirencester. Anyone who wants sand and sea should go west.

Cornwall has the edge because of its fish: crab, lobster and hake landed at Newlyn and cooked in Padstow, St Ives and Porthleven, alongside pasties, cream teas and Camel Valley sparkling wine. Away from the coastal towns the choice thins quickly.

The Cotswolds eat well in a different way, with stone pubs serving local lamb, game and cheese, and farm shops and markets in Stroud and Cirencester. Cheltenham has the widest range. In both places the busiest villages and resorts cook for passing trade, so the better meals tend to be a few miles off the main stops.

The Cotswolds lead on heritage because the landscape itself is the sight. There are the honey-stone streets of Chipping Campden and Burford, the wool churches of Northleach and Fairford, Blenheim Palace and the Roman villa at Chedworth, all within a short drive of one another.

Cornwall's sights are strong but strung out along a long coast: St Michael's Mount, Tintagel, the mining engine houses near Botallack and the Eden Project. Its real cultural asset is art, with Tate St Ives and the Hepworth sculpture garden, and the Cotswolds have nothing quite like it.

Neither is a place for late nights. Cornwall at least has Newquay, where surfers and stag and hen groups keep bars and a few clubs busy through the summer, plus a smaller student scene in Falmouth. In the Cotswolds an evening means a fireside pint and an early night, and Cheltenham's bars around the Promenade are the only real exception.

Cornwall is the wilder and more varied choice. The coast path over the granite cliffs of Penwith and the heathland of the Lizard is far more dramatic, and the Atlantic adds surfing, coasteering, grey seals and summer dolphins.

The Cotswolds are softer country, with dry-stone walls, beech woods and quiet river valleys. The best views are from the escarpment at Cleeve Hill and Broadway Tower along the Cotswold Way. The walking is easy and pretty for all ages, but it never has the drama of the Cornish shore.

The Cotswolds sit in the middle of an outstanding ring of day trips. Oxford, Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick are all an hour or less away, with Gloucester, Worcester, Wells and Bristol close behind, and several of them can be reached by train.

Cornwall is out at the end of a peninsula, so its outings mostly offer more of the same: another harbour town such as Mousehole, Port Isaac, Fowey or Padstow. The Isles of Scilly are the one standout day, and from the east of the county Plymouth and the edge of Dartmoor are within reach.

Cornwall is the classic choice with children because the beaches do so much of the work, with lifeguarded sand, rock pools and bodyboarding. The Eden Project and the seal sanctuary at Gweek cover wet days. The price is cold water, runs of rain and summer traffic.

The Cotswolds suit a gentler family trip: the wildlife park near Burford, the model village at Bourton-on-the-Water, lambing at the farm parks and the steam railway from Winchcombe. Children get less out of it without the seaside, though, and more of the day goes on drives between attractions.

Both really need a car, and both have narrow lanes and summer parking trouble, in St Ives and Padstow or in Bourton and Bibury. What differs is distance and the train. Cornwall is long, so drives between the north coast and the far west take time, but the branch lines to St Ives, Falmouth and Newquay make a car-free stay in one town workable.

The Cotswolds are compact. The villages are under half an hour apart and footpaths link neighbouring ones, so some visitors walk from village to village for their whole stay. Trains from London stop at Moreton-in-Marsh and Kingham, but the rural buses are sparse.

The Cotswolds have the better browsing. Antique dealers fill Tetbury and Stow-on-the-Wold, Burford and Broadway have galleries and homeware shops, and Cheltenham's Regency arcades give the region a proper high street.

Cornwall's shopping is narrower but has its own character: art and pottery in St Ives, independent shops in Falmouth and on Penzance's Chapel Street, and surf gear in Newquay. In the busiest villages of both, the shops run to fudge and souvenirs.

Neither is cheap, and summer weekends push both to their dearest. Cornwall comes out slightly gentler, since pubs, pasties, free beaches and self-catering cottages let a family keep the bill down, and spring and autumn are noticeably cheaper.

The Cotswolds are priced for comfort. Inns, manor-house hotels and the better pubs all sit at the upper end, and every house, garden and park charges full admission. Sharing a cottage or staying in Cheltenham helps.

The Cotswolds have more to do in the evenings. Cheltenham has the Everyman Theatre and its jazz, classical and literature festivals, Longborough stages opera in a barn, and the Royal Shakespeare Company is half an hour from the northern villages.

Cornwall has one unforgettable stage, the clifftop Minack Theatre above Porthcurno, and Truro's Hall for Cornwall takes touring shows. Its folk life of pub sessions, male voice choirs and Padstow's May Day is real, but there is little regular theatre or classical music.

The Cotswolds are the more natural fit for a restful stay. The villages are quiet after dark and the country-house hotels have serious spas. Bath's rooftop thermal pool, fed by Britain's only natural hot springs, is an easy trip from the southern wolds.

Cornwall's calm is more bracing, with beach saunas, cold sea swims and spa hotels above Watergate Bay and Carbis Bay. Summer crowds take much of the peace away, so it rewards a spring or autumn visit.